When the Daily Mirror was at the cutting edge of fashion...

It was wonderful to hear the fashion designer Barbara Hulanicki paying tribute to the Daily Mirror of the 1960s yesterday.

Her reminiscences about the start of her iconic Kensington store, Biba, also showed that the Mirror of those days had its finger on the pulse of that generation's youth.

Hulanicki had previously worked as an illustrator for the Mirror fashion editor, Felicity Green, who had the bright idea in 1964 of asking her to design a dress as a mail order offer for readers.

The result was that a staggering 17,000 people ordered the A-line pink gingham dress from Biba's "postal boutique".

"Overnight, we were in business," Hulanicki told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend. "And we were hallowed by the rag trade, the manufacturers, because everyone wanted to get their fingers on our production. We were very lucky."

Biba became the most fashionable clothing shop during the following decade, famous for its stylishly decadent atmosphere and patronised by the major rock stars of the time.

It closed in 1976 when it ran into business difficulties. But Hulanicki went on designing and today - aged 74 - she is celebrating the launch of her latest range of clothes, which will be sold by the supermarket chain Asda.

And Felicity? Now 84, the delightful woman who became the Mirror Group's first female director remains active in the fashion world too.